


Crazy Together

by buffymysavior



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Cuddling, Kissing, M/M, Nightmares, PTSD, sleepover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 04:30:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15283674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buffymysavior/pseuds/buffymysavior
Summary: Will has a nightmare and Mike comforts him.





	Crazy Together

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve had most of this written for ages and finally finished the rest of it tonight! Not sure how I feel about the outcome, but I hope you like it!

Darkness.

That’s all Will can see as he looks around the woods. The sky is pitch black, the surrounding trees barely definable in the darkness lining his vision. He glances around, attempting to keep his breathing steady as he tries to make out what’s around him.

That is until he hears  _ it _ .

The guttural cry of a demogorgon echoes throughout the woods, and for a split second, he freezes. Then the monster shrieks again, and Will comes to his senses, this time running in the opposite direction of that  _ awful _ sound.

Brambles and twigs scrape his arms as he keeps running, but he barely feels the sting. His heart is thumping painfully against his ribs and he’s pretty sure he has a cramp in his leg, but none of that matters, not now. Not when he’s being chased by a demogorgon in complete and total darkness.

As Will keeps running, something catches his foot and launches him to the ground. He’s able to make out a gnarled tree root in the pitch black, his foot caught underneath it. He tugs on his leg helplessly, but it doesn’t budge as the demogorgon gets closer and closer.

Frantically, Will yanks his leg again, but it doesn’t move. He can see droplets of blood on his arms from the brambles, and he knows it’s only seconds until the demogorgon reaches him. “Mike!” he yells out, his voice echoing throughout the woods. The only response he gets is a crying shriek, and Will uselessly tugs on his foot again. “Mike!” he cries again, but he knows it’s hopeless. He knows Mike isn’t in the woods, or anywhere near there, for that matter, but he can’t help but try.

Suddenly, loud trampling sounds throughout the area, and Will snaps his head forward to see the demogorgon, the monster he’d tried so hard to hide from. Its rows of teeth glint in the darkness, and it pounces on top of Will. Its claws dig into his flesh, and he cries out in pain. He trembles as its face gets closer and closer until—

Suddenly, Will’s eyes fly open and he finds himself gasping for air. His heart is practically beating out of his chest and sweat is coating the back of his neck, but he’s  _ alive _ and  _ safe _ .

He looks around at his surroundings to calm himself down. He’s in his room lying on his bed, Dustin’s loud snoring apparent from the living room. Will had invited the boys over for a sleepover at his house; Dustin and Lucas are curled up on the living room couches and Mike is stretched out on the floor next to him in his sleeping bag.

_ Mike. _ Will had nearly forgotten about the other boy, and he finds himself sighing a breath of relief as he sees Mike’s sleeping form. Just being around him tends to calm Will down, even if he  _ is _ asleep.

Will throws his blankets aside and begins to tiptoe towards the kitchen; a glass of water might help him calm down—

Something grabs his foot on his way to the kitchen, and Will’s heart nearly jumps into his throat. He forces himself to look down and sees Mike glancing up at him with those dark eyes of his. Immediately, relief floods him, along with butterflies. “Will, you okay?” Mike asks quietly, his voice hoarse from sleep.

Will finds his voice catching in his throat, but not out of fear. Mostly because of nerves. “Yeah, sorry, I’m fine,” Will whispers.

Mike relaxes his grip on Will’s ankle a little. “Did you have another nightmare?” he asks in concern.

Will nods silently. “I didn’t mean to wake you up,” he says sheepishly.

“It’s okay. I’m, uh, glad you did,” Mike mumbles as he pulls away from Will’s foot.

The words make Will feel dizzy even though he  _ knows _ Mike doesn’t mean them the way he wants him to. “You should go back to bed,” Will says quietly. “It’s really early.”

“Alright,” Mike says gruffly before lying back down. “‘Night, Will.”

“Goodnight,” Will says softly, forgetting about the glass of water as he tiptoes back to his bed.

Cautiously, Will lies back down and pulls his blankets up to his chest. He closes his eyes for a while, but sleep doesn’t come. Instead, he sees flashbacks of his nightmare in his mind, the fear still fresh in his memory. He tries turning on his side, his stomach, anything to make him fall asleep, but nothing works.

Mike seems to notice this after a while, whispering, “Will!” The boy turns to see Mike looking up at him again. “Can you sleep?”

“No,” Will admits, turning to lie down on his side. It’s not the first time over the past two years that he hasn’t been able to sleep, and it certainly won’t be the last.

“Me neither,” Mike sighs. It’s quiet for a moment before he asks, “Why can’t you sleep?”

Will knows the answer to  _ that _ question, but still hesitates, not wanting to worry him. “The nightmares,” he eventually confesses. “They make it hard.”

Mike seems to debate something in his head before unzipping his sleeping bag and standing up. “What are you doing?” Will questions.

“You can’t sleep,” he says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, moving to stand next to Will’s bed.

“Mike, you don’t have to—”

“Crazy together, right?” Mike asks. There’s a pause between them for a few moments. Will’s not sure why Mike felt the need to ask  _ that _ when he already knows the answer, when he knows what the answer will be  _ every time _ .

“Yeah,” Will says. That seems to satisfy Mike, and he climbs into Will’s bed carefully with those long legs of his. Will tries not to react to the situation, telling himself that this  _ doesn’t mean anything _ , but it’s getting harder and harder to convince himself of that. Especially when Mike shifts onto his side and they’re so close that their noses nearly brush against each other.

“Is this okay?” Mike whispers. Even though it’s dark, Will can still see the worry in his eyes.

“It’s okay,” Will promises. It’s actually  _ more _ than okay in his opinion, but he doesn’t say as much, instead lying there in silence.

It’s quiet between them for a few minutes, both of them avoiding eye contact with one another as they lie there. Will’s beginning to wonder if Mike can hear how fast his heart is beating when he whispers, “Will.”

Will glances up, meeting his eyes. They almost look black in the darkness of the room. “Yeah?” he asks uncertainly.

That same debating expression overtakes his face again. Hesitantly, he moves even closer to Will, making his breath catch in his throat. Now, he’s so close that Will could reach out and kiss him if he wanted to. “Is this okay?” Mike asks again, his voice soft with doubt as he looks up at Will through his eyelashes.

The other boy is so nervous that he can’t even nod his head. “Yes,” he says, so quiet he’s not even sure Mike hears him.

He must, though, because he leans in even closer, seeming to hesitate before brushing his lips against Will’s. Suddenly, for that brief moment, all of Will’s fear completely disappears, being replaced by the butterflies that seem to enamor his whole being. He feels Mike’s fingers brush against the nape of his neck, his thumb resting on the side of Will’s cheek. Even when he pulls away from Will, he doesn’t move his hand, keeping it there as he searches Will’s face for any betraying emotion. “That was…,” Mike says breathily, trailing off due to a loss of words.

“Yeah,” Will agrees, his voice soft with shock. Now that he’s able to process what just happened, he feels a block of ice forming in the pit of his stomach. What did this mean? Was Mike gay, too, or bi, or just plain confused? What about El? They’ve been pretty distant with each other lately, but are they still together and did Mike just cheat on her with him? What would happen if someone found out? Would his mom and Jonathan still love him? Would his friends still talk to him and Mike? Suddenly, Will was scared all over again, but for much different reasons this time around.

Mike must sense the worry in his eyes, because he grabs Will’s hand and squeezes it tight. “Hey,” he says softly, locking eyes with the other boy. “We’ll figure this out together, okay? Just like we always have.”

Will knows he’s right,  _ he’s always right _ , but he still feels the iciness lining his stomach. “Okay,” he whispers, sucking in a breath. Feeling a small burst of courage, he leans in and gives Mike a kiss; it’s short and sweet, but it does a lot to deflate the coldness he’d felt a few moments before.

Even in the darkness, Will can see the smile gracing Mike’s lips, along with the blush on his cheeks. He knows the feeling all too well, a similar expression most likely on his own face.

After a while, sleepiness seems to overcome both of them, and Will feels Mike put a tentative arm around him to pull him closer. Will can’t say he minds, because, of course, he doesn’t. Instead, he feels the exact opposite, smiling at the gesture as he closes his eyes.

It’s when they’re both nearly asleep that the ice in Will’s body completely thaws out. There’s so much he wants to say—to tell Mike how he feels, how he’s liked him ever since they met on the swings, how kissing him is one of the best things he’s ever done—but he doesn’t. Instead, he nudges his face in the crook of Mike’s neck, and as he feels himself about to fall asleep, he mumbles, “Crazy together.”


End file.
